Happiness Injection Our mental health professions try all sorts of things to bring people to a happier state. But it may be as simple as watching this a few times a day. Can you watch this and not be happy?

Personality Type Determines Politics? I don't agree totally with this study but it certainly raises a fascinating question, one that ties in completely with why I moved from big picture political activism to working more with individual and group coaching and consulting on a more focused scale. The jist of it is summarized at the end:

"Whether anyone's feelings are hurt or not, the work suggests that personality and emotions play a bigger role in our political leanings than we think. All of us, liberal or conservative, feel as though we've reached our political opinions by carefully weighing the evidence and exercising our best judgment. But it could be that all of that careful reasoning is just after-the-fact self-justification. What if personality forms our political outlook, with reason coming along behind, rationalizing after the fact?

It could be that whom we vote for has less to do with our judgments about tax policy or free trade or health care, and more with the personalities we've been stuck with since we were kids."

Tie that conclusion in with my experience that a person's personality can, with proper techniques and development, become more fully balanced, and you have the picture of how we can escape our dogmatic unilateral tendencies to reach a more complete understanding that actually transcends BOTH conservative or liberal.

Oscars Get it Right Wow. I think the Oscars got it almost totally correct tonight! Million Dollar Baby was the best movie this year and Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman deserved their Oscars. As much as I feel for Scorcese, I'm glad the voters didn't go for the sentimental vote but stuck with who was really best, Clint Eastwood. Of course, Jamie Foxx was favored, but that was a relief to see him get it since it would have been robbery otherwise. And then, I was thrilled to see Charlie Kaufmann's genius recognized for Eternal Sunshine, which was a little cherry on the sundae. I'm not sure exactly why I care so much about this stuff, but it sure made me glad to see all the right people win. Ah and then the hot fudge was getting to see Counting Crows play too, and Chris Rock rip on Bush till I fell off my couch laughing. All good!

Tyranny-Free 2007?! So I receive this article with the headline "Bush begins new term, vows to end tyranny" (thanks Tabby). I am SOOO excited! Who among us isn't tired of this tyranny. Finally it will end. It's about time. I can't wait because I'm sure by 2007 we'll be tyranny-free. I wonder what the Vegas odds are on this. Gandhi couldn't do it, nor could King...come to think of it nor could God himself apparently (at least not George's God...the one that runs all 3 branches of our government). But George is gonna do it. You know what's gonna rock? The first tyranny-free Spring Break! I'm there, who's with me?

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day There is something about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy that I find unbelievably powerful. I have been brought to flooding tears time and again watching documentaries about him and sometimes even just by looking at a picture of him giving a speech. I know that, though I always admired him and what he did, in my younger days I didn't really fully comprehend the power of what he did. But in the last few years that has changed. Here was a man that stood in the most dangerous situations, risking his life on a daily basis, to tell the truth about the injustice perpetrated on his people. Here was a man who had the vision to go beyond divisions by race, creed, socioeconomics or gender, and come to embrace all of humanity. Here was a man with the courage to stand in the midst of violent hatred and preach love. And here is a man who died doing it so that we in America could have a true symbol of the power of the human spirit. Of all the Americans who have national monuments and holidays attributed to them, perhaps none was as much a champion of the rights of all humans, and as much a representative of all of us, not just Americans. So I hope that today people will read something about his life and if possible, truly think for a few minutes about what this man did. How many of us could stand in those situations he did and have the faith and bravery to speak the truth, come what may, just because somebody had to do it?

Einstein Speaks "It is horrifying to realize that the poison of militarism and imperialism threatens to bring undesirable changes in the political attitude of the United States….What we see at work is not an expression of the sentiments of the American people; rather, it reflects the will of a powerful minority which uses its economic power to control the organs of political life." - Einstein on Peace, p. 343

"I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime." (Albert Einstein Quotes)

"Members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population."

"Under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights."

"The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them."

Of course what do you expect from a party that insists slavery took place too long ago to consider its social influence in our country today, then turns around and calls itself the Party of Lincoln, invoking the man who helped end slavery oh so many years ago as still relevant!

Then again, when Jesse Jackson raved about how there may have been irregularities a while back during the California recall election for governor and demanded investigations, Sean Hannity asked him if he would have demanded such investigations had the Democrats won. Jackson quickly responded "No".

*rolls eyes* Once again, both of these parties desperately need a real challenge from some other parties. Thank you to David Cobb for tirelessly pushing this issue of fair elections in the last few weeks. Thank you to the Center for Voting and Democracy for pushing the issue of election reform all the time. And thanks to Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. for pointing out the shocking fact that American have no Constitutional right to vote!

Fox Problem Solving The Fox 2 Problem Solvers are the folks who follow up on delinquent workers, companies that have screwed over people and others about whom they receive complaints. I'm thinking of calling them to complain about Fox itself. Imagine them up in Rupert Murdoch's grill!

Prophecy and Warning "As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld prepares to bend thefabric of space-timeU.S. - In bold defiance of the fundamental laws thatbind the universe together, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld todayordered the increased production of vehicle armor for U.S. troopsin Iraq.

Previously, Rumsfeld had said that the construction ofarmor and other protective gear was already proceeding as quickly aspossible, based on the properties of matter and energy as they arecurrently known. In an appearance last week before U.S. troops preparing todeploy to Iraq, a soldier asked the Defense chief why troops were forcedto scrounge for armor in Kuwaiti junkyards. Rumsfeld replied that themilitary was already providing armor as fast as possible, sayingthat "It's essentially a matter of physics, not a matter ofmoney. It's a matter of production and the capability of doing it."

Just days later, on Rumsfeld's orders, factoriesproducing Humvee armor kits increased their production rate from 450 unitsper month to 550 units per month, a 22% improvement over the maximumproduction rate physically possible.

Scientists are baffled over how the Defense Secretaryaccomplished this feat without causing the universe to explode. "At aminimum, Rumsfeld must have suspended the law of conservation of matter,which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed," says StephenHawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at CambridgeUniversity and one of the world's most renowned physicists.

Scientists are baffled over how Rumsfeld accomplishedthis without causing the universe to explode.

Others speculated that Rumsfeld may have increasedproduction using a perpetual motion device invented by the highlysecretive Impossible Task Force. The Bush administration, however, has deniedthat the ITF even exists. "In this administration, we obey the First Lawof Thermodynamics," President Bush has said.

Another theory is that Rumsfeld increased productionrates by traveling back in time and recalibrating the assembly lines toincrease production rates for the past year or more. This theory could betested by performing a carbon-dating procedure on Rumsfeld, butthis is widely considered impractical.

Although production levels have been improved,Rumsfeld said he did not know how long it would take to install armor on theHumvees currently in Iraq. Explaining his uncertainty, Rumsfeld cited theHeisenberg principle, a key concept in quantum physics whichstates that it is impossible to simultaneously know both the locationand direction of movement of a Humvee.

American Overdose! What Are You, On Drugs?With so many Americans popping prescription meds, whoneeds nature and sex and exercise?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Wednesday, December 8, 2004

The odds are very good that you are on drugs.

Right now. This minute. As I type this and as you readthis and as false Texas dictators rise and sad empirescrumble and as this mad bewildered world spins in itsfrantically careening orbit, there's a nearly 50/50chance that some sort of devious synthetic chemicalmanufactured by some massive and largely heartlesscorporation is coursing through your bloodstream andhumping your brain stem and molesting your karma andkicking the crap out of your libido and chattering theteeth of your very bones.

Maybe it's adjusting your hormone levels orcontrolling your urge to weep every minute or relaxingthe blood vessels in your penis or cranking theserotonin to your brain or pumping carefully measuredslugs of alprazolam or fluoxetine or sertraline oratorvastatin or esomeprazole or buspirone orvenlafaxine or any number of substances withLatin-rooted jawbreaker names through your flesh in abizarre dance of miraculous vaguely disturbingdeath-defying scientific wonder.

Forty-four percent of all Americans. That's the latestnumber. Almost half us are popping at least oneprescription drug and fully one in six are poppingthree or more, and the numbers are only increasing andthis of course doesn't count alcohol or cigarettes orbad porn and it doesn't count the mad megadoses ofjingoistic flag-waving God-slappin' fear -- which is,as evidenced by the last election, a stupendouslypopular FDA-approved drug in its own right. But that'sanother column.

Have a teenager? She's probably on drugs, too. One infour of all teens are, according to new research. Andwe ain't talking pot or ecstasy or meth or finecocaine or Bud Light or any of thoseoh-my-God-not-my-baby devil drugs that are sodemonized by the government, but that by and large areno more (and are often far less) toxic and addictiveand caustic than any of your average 8-buck-a-popsilver-bullet chemical bombs shot forth from the likesof Eli Lilly and Glaxo and Pfizer, et al. Ahh, irony.It's the American way.

All of which means one of two things: either it's thegoddamn finest time in history to be an American,living as we are in the age of incredible technologyand miracle medicines and longer life expectancies and$5 coffee drinks and a happy synthetic chemical tomatch any sort of ache or pain or lump or rash orspiritual crisis you might be facing.

Or it's the absolute worst, what with so many of usheavily drugged and over half of us massively obeseand IQs dropping like stones and our overall qualityof life deteriorating right under our noses andshockingly huge numbers of us actually finding ShaniaTwain somehow interesting. Which perspective is rightfor you? Ask your doctor.

It's become so you can't crack a joke about Prozac orXanax at a party without at least three or four facessuddenly going still and unsmiling and you're like,whoops, as you suddenly realize that you can, as youwalk the streets of this fine and heavily narcotizednation, imagine at least one very expensive drugpumping through the time-ravaged body of nearly everyother person you pass. It's a bit like knowing theirsecret fetish or favoritest dream or on which netherpart they want to get a tattoo. Except totallydifferent.

And you might say, well, so what? So what ifpharmaceuticals help us cope, relieve the pressure,help us survive this ugly and irritating world? Betterliving through chemistry, baby, so long as you don'tmind the numbness and the glazed eyeballs and theheart palpitations and the lack of true feeling inyour fingertips and the nightmares about snakes.Right?

So long as you don't mind the slightly nauseatingsense that you have lost some sort of vital andperhaps irreplaceable link to the animal world and theluminous organic planet. But, as Dubya says, who thehell cares about that crap when you got baseball andwar and apple pie?

Because here's the nasty truth: it's a highly toxicBushCo world right now and we've set it up so it'sonly getting worse, darker, more poisonous andunsettled and unsanitary. Maybe all our meds just helpus maintain some sort of jittery and numbed balance,some sort of sad equilibrium. The BushCo doctrinedictates detachment, exploitation, abuse of everyknown ecological resource and profiteering from everyknown loophole and caring not a whit for nature andorganic systems and balance? Hey, like nation, likebody.

But let's be fair. It must be said right here thatmany of these drugs indeed help an enormous number ofpeople and restore lives and bring light where onlydarkness once reigned and far be it from me tobegrudge anyone his or her chemical-assisted reprievefrom genuine suffering.

But here's the thing: it's still only a fraction. Onlya small number of people whose doctors prescribe thesemeds like candy actually need them, and as for therest there are these things called lifestyle changeand dietary change and perspective change and evenspiritual shift that can affect the overall health ofyour life like a goddamn miracle, like a thousanddrugs combined, changes that millions simply refuse toundertake because, well, it's just too damn hard.

We don't want to know. We don't want to understanddeeper, complex natural systems. We want pills, notawareness. We want magic bullets, not true magic. Wewant to eat what we want and exercise not at all andpay no attention to our bodies and our quality of lifeand expect it all to work sufficiently well until wedie at 90 and they forklift us into ourrefrigerator-size coffins. After all, we're Americans.We're not supposed to care.

Nevertheless, it bears repeating: maybe what's lackingmost in this society is a true and thoughtful andnuanced connection to and understanding of the naturalsystems, soil and sunlight and sustainability, lunarrhythms and whole food and maybe knowing where thehell your water really comes from. You think?

Because the truth is, it's not all that hard to getinformed. It's not all that hard to affect seriouschange in your life and eat better and kiss better andrequire less chemical crap in your bloodstream andslowly but surely reduce the need for medication inyour life. It is far from impossible to clear out thetoxins and flush the BushCo-endorsed crap and defy thedemonic corporate pharmaceutical PR and reevaluatejust how you tread this life. They just want you tothink it is.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A judge refused to delay a trial Tuesday when an attorney objected to his wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments embroidered on the front in gold.

Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan showed up Monday at his Covington County courtroom in southern Alabama wearing the robe. Attorneys who try cases at the courthouse said they had not seen him wearing it before. The commandments were described as being big enough to read by anyone near the judge.

Attorney Riley Powell, defending a client charged with DUI, filed a motion objecting to the robe and asking that the case be continued. He said McKathan denied both motions.

McKathan told The Associated Press that he believes the Ten Commandments represent the truth "and you can't divorce the law from the truth. ... The Ten Commandments can help a judge know the difference between right and wrong."

He said he doesn't believe the commandments on his robe would have an adverse effect on jurors.

"I had a choice of several sizes of letters. I purposely chose a size that would not be in anybody's face," he said.

The case raised comparisons to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from office in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery.

Moore said Tuesday he supports McKathan's decision to wear the Ten Commandments robe.

"I applaud Judge McKathan. It is time for our judiciary to recognize the moral basis of our law," Moore said.

Powell said if he loses his case, he expects the judge's wearing of the Ten Commandments robe to be part of an appeal.